The Grand Tour
The Grand Tour is a British motoring television series for Amazon Video presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May and produced by Andy Wilman. It has most recently concluded its third season, with a fourth season presently in production and a fifth season in the pipeline. The four agreed to produce the series following their departures from the BBC series Top Gear. The initial plan was to produce 36 episodes over a three year span, which rose to 38 by the time each episode had aired. Each episode airs weekly in a similar manner to a TV series. A concise episode list is available here. Season 1 began airing on the 18th of November, 2016 and concluded on the 3rd of February, 2017. A few days after launch, The Grand Tour became Amazon Video's most watched premiere episode. The previous record-holder was The Man In The High Castle. The show was made available in an additional 195 countries and territories in December of 2016. Due to Hammond's Rimac Crash and Clarkson's pneumonia, Season 2 was delayed. It would eventually air from the 8th of December, 2017 through to the 16th of February, 2018. Season 3 aired from the 18th of January, 2019 to the 12th of April, 2019. Features (Seasons 1-3) The Tent For Season 1 of The Grand Tour, studio segments shot in a large tent which was set up at various locations, such as Southern California and Nashville USA, Johannesburg South Africa, Stuttgart Germany, Dubai UAE, Rotterdam Netherlands, Lapland Finland, Loch-Ness Scotland and Whitby England. For Season 2 and Season 3 of The Grand Tour, the tent was located in The Cotswolds, United Kingdom due to Clarkson's Pneumonia and Hammond's Rimac accident. This also made it easier for Segments such as Celebrity Face Off to take place. After the third series, the tent was abandoned and films were now filmed on location. Test Track The show has a dedicated test track called the "Eboladrome", due to its shape resembling the structure of the Ebola virus, at the former RAF Wroughton. Section of the track are the "Isn't Straight", "Your Name Here", "Old Lady's House", "Substation" and "Field of Sheep". Here Clarkson, Hammond and May put various cars around the track. During Season 1, Cars were lapped and timed by NASCAR driver Mike Skinner, known as "The American", who considers anything not American, front-engine and V8 powered as "communist". While doing a lap, Skinner makes sarcastic remarks about the car and the presenters. After unpopularity with viewers, Skinner was replaced by British Racing Driver Abbie Eaton for Season 2 and Season 3. Prior to the first episode the Lap board had been pre-populated with ten times from a selection of cars, and the laps themselves were not shown, just the timings. After Series 3, the Eboladrome was abandoned ending the Show's Track Tests. The 2016 BMW M2 was the first car shown round the track and the 1988 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was the last as after Season 3, the Eboladrome would no longer be used. Conversation Street Here, the presenters discuss motoring news, new cars, hilarious sketches and recent events. The segment were always introduced by Richard Hammond and is accompanied by a 10 second title which features black silhouettes of the presenters against a white background. For Series 1, they discussed about the locations they were based at, whereas for Season 2 and Season 3, the segments were more car related. Celebrity Segments Celebrity Brain Crash For Season 1 of The Grand Tour, Celebrities were supposed to come on the show to be interviewed and test their mental agility, observational skills, and ability to multitask. However, guests in the segment are always 'killed' in gruesome ways before they can enter The Grand Tour's studio tent to participate. After each "death", May asks "Does that mean they're not coming on then?" to which Hammond deadpans "No James, they're not" while bluntly outlining how "dead" the celebrity is, while the other segments were . The segment received viewer Backlash and was replaced for Season 2. Celebrity Face Off For Season 2 of The Grand Tour, Two Celebrities of similar background come onto the show and after being interviewed, they are sent round The Grand Tour Rally Track in a Jaguar F Type to which of the duo was faster. Despite better views than in Celebrity Brain Crash, the segment was dropped to dedicate more time for films in Season 3. Features (Season 4-present) For Season 4 of The Grand Tour, the trio will abandon the studio filming tent, ending Conversation Street, Eboladrome Track Tests, Standalone Segments and Dual Segments to instead focus on big adventure road trips and specials which were filmed on location. Production The format of segments in the programme are a result of needing to ensure differentiation from the team's previous work on Top Gear for the BBC. The show is presented from a large tent where the presenters sit around a trestle table, with the studio audience seated in front of them. For Series 4, the show will consist of a series of specials, filmed on location Naming The show's title was announced as The Grand Tour on 11 May 2016. The show's logo was unveiled by Clarkson on Twitter on 28 June 2016. There was speculation that the show could be called Gear Knobs after a trademark application was made for that name by an associated company, but Clarkson stated in October 2015 that this would not be the title. He explained in April 2016 that the word "Gear" could not be used for legal reasons. Category:The Grand Tour